BAP61 Stakeholder Values & Ethics: TAP Pharmaceuticals Case Study

This case study analyzes the unethical culture at TAP Pharmaceuticals (TAP), where profits were prioritized over ethical conduct. The analysis reveals a misalignment between the company's practices and ethical standards, particularly regarding the bribery of doctors and the lack of accountability for medical samples. Douglas Durand's efforts to implement ethical changes, such as rewarding accurate sample accounting, were resisted by management and employees, ultimately leading to his failure to transform the company's culture. The case highlights the challenges of changing a deeply ingrained unethical culture within an organization and emphasizes the importance of ethical leadership and commitment from all levels of management.

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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Question One
Analyse the ethical culture at TAP. Does the culture appear to be in alignment?
Misalignment?
The case study discloses the unethical culture of the pharmaceutical company TAP that had
been operating in the pharmaceutical for many years but has a corruptive reputation. The
culture of the organisation is such a culture where only number matters and the people
working here have no ethics and social responsibility. Unlike other pharmaceutical
companies, TAP has no in house legal counsel to judge the relevancy and appropriateness of
the medicines but fully depend upon the method of bribing the doctors. In addition to this the
medical representatives keep the differences then they give away the samples or often do not
charge anything for medical samples leading to the loss of the company. This is due to the
fact that there is no regulation of keeping account for free samples. Thus it can be stated that
this particular culture is not aligned with the ethical factors related to pharmaceutical
industry.
Question Two
Based on the facts in the case evaluate the culture change effort that Douglas Durand
undertook. Why did his efforts fail?
After Douglas Durand became the company’s vice president he found the inaccuracy
of conduct of the employees in the organisation. In other company where he used to work
previously, had an ethical background and social responsibility1. In order to change the
situation and take TAP to the path of honesty, he brought some changes in the organisation
process but whatever he wanted to change everything was resisted either by the employees or
the managers. However, he wanted to follow right path for earning the doctor’s trust for
1 J Shapiro & J Stefkovich, Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education, in ,Routledge , 2016.

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selling the medicines rather by bribing them but he was resisted. He started to give bonus to
the representatives for keeping the accurate accounts for samples. This process was supported
but senior management discontinued bonus2. He was not permitted to enter the meetings of
the employees so that he cannot manipulate the employees to work ethically. Therefore, he
failed to bring any change.
2 R Iphofen, Ethical decision making in social research, in , Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.

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References:
Shapiro, J, & J Stefkovich, Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education. in, Routledge, 2016.
Iphofen, R, Ethical decision making in social research. in , Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2016.